


that's the way (I've always heard it should be)

by fictorium



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Chekhov's Gun, F/F, Femslash, Prompt: DEO, Prompt: belt, Smut, SuperCat Smut Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 04:44:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19310878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/pseuds/fictorium
Summary: Kara gets knocked around in a bad fight and loses her powers. Cat is definitely not panicking about that. Written for the SupercatSmutGames.





	that's the way (I've always heard it should be)

Kara counts her steps as she paces back and forth across the room. It’s almost a relief to only be able to move at this sluggish human rate, to feel the effort of each muscle flex and extend and relax as she moves. She can’t hear her heartbeat--or anyone else’s--the way she usually can. For the novelty, she presses two fingers to her throat until the steady beat of a pulse pushes against the ridges of her fingertips. 

She doesn’t recognize this room at the DEO, but it’s clearly been someone’s office in the past. Not even the recent past judging by the age of the computer on the desk, The part of Kara that was once an assistant, who kept the entire 40th floor at CatCo free of eyesores that Cat might want to hurl at someone, is itching to rearrange a little. The poster about the Red Sox winning the World Series could certainly go, and a stack of empty ring binders on the desk are just too easy to set aside, so Kara does exactly that. It clears a space that’s remarkably free of dust, marred only by an old-fashioned PA microphone and some buttons, part of an analog system that probably doesn’t even work now with all the fancy equipment the building has. 

Then the door opens.

Kara straightens her spine but doesn’t turn around. She smooths out the rumpled red material of her skirt, frowns at a burn on the sleeve of her suit that the decontamination showers haven’t been able to do anything about. She’s squeaky clean, in fact, but already she can feel the scrutiny of that gaze traveling up and down her body.

“Turn.”

It’s all Cat has to say. There’s no edge to the word, no bark of authority to make Kara jump to attention. She simply says it with the confidence of a woman sure she will be obeyed. Forcing herself to turn slowly, Kara complies. 

“Cat, I--”

“Don’t you dare speak right now.” Cat advances in her heels. _Click, click, click_ against the stone floor. Kara backs against the desk, from pure instinct. “Was that supposed to be clever, out there?”

“I was just trying to…” Kara’s excuses trail off as soon as she starts. She has no justification for her actions. Now there’s half a building totalled, flooding downtown, and in capturing the rampaging lab experiment gone wrong who’d caused half that damage, she’s also completely blown out her powers. “I’m sorry. I guess that can’t have looked too good.”

“Which part? Where they had to carry you out on a stretcher? Or before that, when you fell forty stories or more like a stone? I have a little experience in that particular area, and it’s nobody’s idea of a good time.”

“It hurt the sidewalk more than it hurt me?”

The weak joke doesn’t land. Cat’s eyes look ready to shoot lasers of their own, and her chest rises and falls more visibly than usual. 

“I’m sorry if I scared you, Cat.” Sincerity has always been Kara’s best weapon, not least because she actually values telling the truth whenever she can. 

“Oh, I see. This is where I’m supposed to laugh at the idea that anything scares me, ease your conscience by waving it away. Is that what you’re hoping for, Kara?”

“Well, you did base jump Mount Kili…” Kara trails off at Cat’s withering stare. 

Right. Of course she didn’t. 

Cat’s life is insured for a ridiculous sum, so extreme sports are out of the question even if she did have time. So when she’d told that little white lie, in the wake of Kara’s darkest day and before they had ever touched in a way that could be considered intimate, Cat had been setting aside her own feelings to stabilize Kara. Again. Maybe calling it a superpower hadn’t been so far off the mark. 

“And now your powers are out? I heard them talking in the hallway as your sister showed me in. She’s gone to get some special lamps. I assume that doesn’t mean Tiffany.”

“For now, yeah,” Kara admits, rubbing her hand across the back of her neck, brushing her hair aside to do it. “Wish I’d realized they were out before I picked up so many of these bruises. Still, being almost human has its advantages. Remember?”

She risks closing the remaining gap between them, slipping an arm around Cat’s waist. For a moment it seems Cat and her righteous fury will resist and walk right out of there. Instead, her few faltering steps only succeed in turning them both around, effectively trapping herself between Kara and the unused desk.

“Six months,” Cat whispers, running one fingertip along the torn neckline of Kara’s suit. “Six months we’ve been doing this and you’re still scaring me. When is it going to get easier? If it’s not stronger and more dangerous enemies to fight, then our damn government is coming after you. Which I’d be more worried about if there was a single competent person left in the White House, but the point stands.”

“I always make it through,” Kara replies. “I’ve got more incentive than ever to come home in one piece.” She places a gentle finger under Cat’s chin, tips it up ever so slightly before pressing the softest of kisses to the corner of her jaw. It’s barely pressure at all, little more than the graze of a butterfly’s wing, but Cat lets the smallest possible moan escape her lips in response.

Cat has shown up all business in her chic pantsuit. The blazer is patterned with blood-red and creamy-white over its solid base of black, the tailoring sculpted exactly to Cat’s petite frame. The white camisole beneath would tear like cotton candy with Kara’s usual strength, but instead she just skims faint curves through it with the palms of her hands. She pauses only when she reaches the waistband of the high-waisted black pants, their flowing fabric cinched in place by a sturdy leather belt, far more practical than Cat would usually pair with such an outfit. 

“This doesn’t go,” Kara says, giving the belt a little tug. “Were you really so worried you got dressed in a hurry? You’ve never messed up your look for me before.”

“You fell out of the _sky_ ,” Cat replies, folding her arms in a new temporary huff. “And really, Kara, I love you but I draw the line at taking fashion advice from someone who thinks plaid is acceptable outside of a boarding school uniform.”

For a moment Kara can’t hear or see, and she panics that she’s lost even human-range senses. Then it all comes flooding back with a thundering in her ears as she processes what Cat has just said. She doesn’t let go of the belt her fingers are looped through, the feel of it seems to be the only thing grounding her.

“You… you love me?”

“Oh, keep up,” Cat says, words wrapped around a sigh. She unfolds her arms, running her hand through Kara’s hair, still faintly damp from the shower. “I’ve been waiting for you to say it first, since it’s your worst-kept secret since being Supergirl.”

“I can keep secrets!” Kara insists, but it’s as effective as every other time she’s said it. Still, it’s nice to see Cat’s half-suppressed snort of laughter. The night didn’t seem to be going that way when Cat first walked in. “But since we’re talking about it now, I guess I can tell you that duh, okay, I do love you too.”

“Well this is a regular Jane Austen romance,” Cat says, smacking Kara lightly on the collarbone. Her eye roll, at least, seems very fond. “Still, I’d like to make sure you’re really back in one piece. That means getting out of this alien Alcatraz and going somewhere much more comfortable.”

“Why would we do that?” Kara asks, sliding the belt through its buckle at a slow and steady pace. “When there are perfectly fine surfaces right here?”

“You think I’m going to put out in this place?” Cat looks around with a raise of her left eyebrow. “Besides, we haven’t even kissed yet.”

“Now, that? That I can fix,” Kara replies, her mouth closing over Cat’s. 

Their lips slide instinctively into a proper kiss, one full of fears still unexpressed and fresh joy at admitting their love to one another. Kara has been in a particular kind of agony for months now, being pretty sure she finished the job of falling for Cat somewhere around their third official date. Refusing to tell her so far had been partly caution on Kara’s part, no thanks to plenty of teasing from Alex about U-Hauls and a bunch of other clichés.

More than that though, Kara has been terrified of ever truly falling in love. She told Alex once that it wasn’t why she was sent to Earth, but with every bond Kara forms with another person, comes the memory of what it felt like to lose everything. She cherishes every person she’s come to care for here on this planet, but romantic love has always felt like a risk too far, no matter how many movies about it she happens to adore. 

Even Mon-El, which hadn’t been anything like what she feels for Cat, had only resulted in more pain. First when he left, and then when he kept coming back to taunt her in his unavailability. Putting Cat in a ship and sending her off somewhere would destroy Kara, that much she already knows. There are blows that not even an invincible alien can come back from. 

“Where are you?” Cat asks, drawing Kara back into another slow, sensuous kiss. “I felt you drifting off,” she adds, moving her lips to graze against Kara’s cheek. 

“Just processing,” Kara replies. “Alex says there’s a lot of processing involved in dating other women.”

“We don’t have to do this now,” Cat says, withdrawing just enough to let Kara choose how they proceed. Her focus back on the woman in front of her, Kara responds by lifting Cat to sit up on the desk. Even without her powers it’s an easy task, Cat still feels almost fragile in Kara’s grip. 

“I’m not waiting any longer to be with the woman who _loves_ me,” Kara says, and it’s supposed to be teasing but really the statement just leaves them both a little breathless. She whips Cat’s belt off from around her waist and drops it to the floor, unbuttoning the pants right after. 

“After something in particular?” Cat makes the joke, but she’s not laughing when Kara tugs her pants and underwear off in one sharp tug. “You know it would have been easier to do that before I was sitting down.”

Kara shrugs. “Easy is overrated.”

She kisses her way down the elegant line of Cat’s neck, shoving her jacket off until both sleeves are bundled around her wrists, hands now splayed out behind her. The material is pulled taut between her arms, and while it would be so easy to escape it, the situation has the hint of restraint that Cat usually enjoys.

It has the added benefit of pulling the silky camisole taut. Cat would be the first to admit she’s not exactly busty, but Kara loves every inch of her small breasts, with their subtle curves. She traces with her thumbs, stroking both nipples to hardness, enjoying Cat’s hitched breathing as she does it. 

Another time Kara might linger, might tease for minutes that feel like hours, but she’s already on thin ice when it comes to Cat’s temper tonight. Instead she pushes the pale silk up so she can kiss her way down Cat’s abdomen to where she’s naked and more than a little needy. 

“Efficient,” Cat rasps as Kara’s open-mouthed kisses reach her hipbone. “You don’t entirely have a death wish then.”

“Do you want me to take my time?” Kara pauses long enough to ask. She’s on her knees now, the leather of her boots creaking as she sweeps her cape out of the way. “Because I don’t think anyone is paying attention to where we are right now, and I can be here all night.”

Cat’s answer is tangling the fingers of one hand in Kara’s hair and tugging with a certain level of intent. 

“So I’ll carry on,” Kara announces, and Cat’s grip only tightens as Kara sets about her task with even more enthusiasm than usual. She’s always been crazy about the way Cat tastes, maybe because taste is the one sense Kara doesn’t have to control or moderate. She can just experience it like any other person without overthinking it. 

Despite their skipping ahead, without the customary foreplay that Kara loves to linger over whenever time allows, Cat is already slick beneath the first determined swipes of Kara’s tongue. She multitasks a little, dragging her blunt fingernails down the insides of Cat’s thighs, which have parted so readily to welcome Kara between them.

“Oh God!” Cat gasps when Kara turns the full pressure of her licking toward Cat’s clit, stiff in anticipation of the contact. “You’re not going to take it easy on me, are you?”

Kara shakes her head but continues the relentless pace. It’s nothing compared to the speed she can generate with her powers, but Cat is already squirming under her touch. The more Kara twists and twirls her tongue, alternating flicks of the tip with broad flat strokes, the more Cat gradually unravels. It’s easy to tell when her climax is approaching--the way Cat’s thigh muscles tense and then tremble, the arch of her hips pushing her harder against Kara’s mouth--but when Kara draws out that first orgasm, her reward is a half-shout and Cat’s hand slapping against the desk.

It’s not until she’s quaking through her second that Kara starts to let up. Cat tries to admonish her while catching her breath. 

“I suppose I do still love you,” she says, eyes bright and lips shining. “Even if you are a reckless idiot with no sense of self… preservation.”

Kara wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing a little on the sleeve of her suit. She always enjoys the way Cat’s eyes darken at the sight. 

“You look amazing like this,” Kara says, still on her knees and in no hurry to change that. “It’s like I’m worshipping at your shrine or something.”

Cat lifts her shoulders in a little shrug. It would hardly be the first time anyone offered her such devotion, but Kara knows how lucky she is to have the adoration returned. 

“Do I get to have my way with you now?” Cat asks, making no move yet to cover herself or even move at all. “Or do I have to wait for a secondary location? Because I have to tell you, Kara, I want to--”

They’re interrupted by a frantic knocking at the door. Kara wishes she had her heat vision back, just to melt the damn thing. Of all the times to come looking for her…

“Just a minute!” She calls out, trying for bright and breezy. “Come on, tell me what you were going to say, while I help you get dressed again.”

The knocking comes again, louder this time. “Kara! It’s me!”

“I know, Alex!” 

“Kara, you both need to stop talking. Right. Now.”

“What?”

There’s the telltale thud of what has to be Alex’s head impacting the door. Of course Kara answered an instruction not to talk by talking. It’s almost impossible not to, and Alex should know better by now honestly. 

Cat shrugs her blazer back into place and bends with trademark grace once she’s standing again to pull her pants back up. Only the belt remains on the floor, but Cat ushers Kara to go open the door. There’s no hiding the fact that she’s intrigued by the order not to speak. 

“What is it?” Kara asks as she opens the door. Out of habit, she steps into the gap in a vain bid to protect Cat’s privacy.

“Has she moved?” Alex pushes past, and Kara’s still weak enough to let her. That sucks. Her powers can’t come back soon enough. She doesn’t miss the way her sister’s nose crinkles at the smell of sex in the room. It’s not like the DEO offices have windows that open, so Kara refuses to feel guilty.

“Agent.”

“Ms Grant.”

Kara wishes they’d get on a little better, but Alex is still pissed that four of the six months’ dating were kept secret, even from her. That’s a problem for another time, because Alex is fussing with the equipment on the desk.

“Is this urgent?” Cat asks, hands on her hips. “Because if you don’t mind, your sister and I were in the middle of a … private…”

Cat must hear it too. Her own voice echoing out in the corridor beyond the office.

“Is that…?” Kara asks. “Wait, how…” She can hear her own voice now.

“Turns out this analog system is still connected,” Alex says, fussing with the buttons next to the small microphone. “Oh, to hell with it.” She reaches under the desk and yanks out a bunch of wires. 

“Wait, was that on the _whole_ time?” Kara looks at Cat, seeing the same horror-stricken expression she must have coming right back at her, before Cat gathers herself and manages to look unbothered again. “Alex, tell me it wasn’t.”

“No, we just got the last minute or two, but believe me, that was enough.”

“I think it might have been when I hit the desk in, uh, encouragement,” Cat supplies, trying and failing to conceal her smirk. “Well, it’s about time someone did something for morale around here. I hope your agents enjoyed the show.”

Kara just stares. There’s confident, and there’s whatever Cat is. Part of Kara’s soul is looking for an escape hatch, which feels a lot like being kicked in the ribs from the inside. She’s definitely blushing. Her face might actually be on fire. 

“I…”

“I think for Kara’s sake we should get going,” Cat continues. “Shall I get an Uber, or is this place still pretending not to be on the map?”

“I’ll call Darryl if that’s who’s driving you tonight,” Kara says, seizing on a task that means not looking Alex in the eye. “You’ve never even been in an Uber,” she adds, leveling the accusation at Cat. Who is having way too much fun. 

“So, you love her?” Alex asks, hand resting a little too casually on the firearm at her waist. Ready to explain, Kara looks up from her phone to realize the question wasn’t directed at her. 

“It would seem so.” Cat doesn’t give an inch, but she does bend down to pick up her belt before casually putting it back on. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Only if you hurt her,” Alex warns.

“She won’t,” Kara gives the answer now, putting her arm around Cat and pulling her close. Okay, these weren’t the circumstances she wanted to declare it all in, but here they are. “I love her too, Alex. This is real.”

“Doesn’t mean she won’t hurt you,” Alex replies, but she leaves the gun alone. “Probably makes it even more likely. But there’s nothing I can say to change your mind, is there?”

Kara shakes her head.

“Then you have my blessing, I guess. But I still know twenty-three ways to kill a person, so there’s that, too.”

“Duly noted,” Cat replies, but Kara feels her relax a little against her side. “Let’s get out of here, hmm?”

“I’ll call you later,” Kara says to Alex as she guides Cat toward the door. “And uh, sorry about the whole broadcasting thing.”

“Oh, it’s not me you have to apologize to,” Alex answers. “Brainy is trying to delete his own memory somewhere in the labs right now.”

“Who’s Brainy?” Cat asks as they step out into the corridors. “Honestly, you people and nicknames. It’s as bad as when you wanted to call a superhero The Flasher.”

“The _Flash_ ,” Kara corrects automatically. “Are you really not embarrassed about what just happened?”

“That a whole building knows I’m with a gorgeous, talented woman who can rock my world even without superpowers?” Cat pretends to think about it. “Nope, no shame here. What about you? I don’t want you blushing yourself to death before I’ve had my hopefully-less-public way with you.”

“Me? I’m just fine,” Kara says, and she’s surprised to find she isn’t lying at all. Maybe that will change the first time Vasquez teases her about it, but right now she feels invincible again, missing powers or not. “Your car is waiting downstairs, so let’s see if we can make it home without traumatizing the driver, okay?”

Cat gives her a scorching look that basically screams _challenge accepted_. It puts a definite spring in Kara’s step as they head for the exit, and she makes a mental note to look up exhibitionism later. 

“They’re all jealous,” Cat leans in to whisper as they pass a gaggle of agents who are definitely staring at them. “They’ll be even more jealous when they find out what I have planned for you.”

Kara swallows, hard, and gives a little wave to the DEO agents as they pass. She has a funny feeling it won’t be long until there’s enough adrenaline to bring her powers back, if Cat has anything to do with it. 


End file.
